Cebu mayors back transparent bags for school safety

CEBU CITY — More Cebu mayors are backing the use of transparent bags as a school security measure as local governments respond to a string of violent incidents involving minors.

Cebu City Mayor Nestor Archival is open to requiring students to use transparent bags, provided the policy does not add to their expenses, his chief of staff, Kenneth Siasar, said.

The city has yet to decide whether it can require bag inspections, however, and is still studying the legal considerations on checking students’ belongings, Siasar added.

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READ: Transparent backpacks given to Tacloban students after shooting

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In the meantime, the city has begun deploying metal detectors in schools and plans to ask the Philippine National Police for a security template that schools can use.

In Talisay City, Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas Jr. said the city, not parents, should shoulder the cost of providing transparent bags to public school students.

The measure could roll out as early as next year once the city is ready.

“I will not force students and parents to purchase school supplies,” Gullas said. “I will not require something and add additional burden to them.”

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For now, the mayor said the city is focused on tightening security measures such as bag checks, in coordination with police, the Department of Education (DepEd), parents, and disaster-response groups.

In the town of Dumanjug, Mayor Guntrano “Gungun” Gica, who earlier proposed an executive order mandating school bag inspections, said such checks would help strengthen campus security but were not enough on their own.

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He said schools, parents and communities must also work to restore “values formation, discipline and genuine relationships among students, their schoolmates and their teachers.”

Gica also raised concerns that many young people now interact mostly through cellphones and social media rather than in person.

READ: Hontiveros: ‘Multi-faceted’ approach to prevent future school shootings

Some Mandaue City schools have already adopted similar measures.

DepEd-Mandaue Superintendent Bianito Dagatan said private schools may adopt transparent bags after consulting parents.

But he stressed that no single measure, including transparent bags or metal detectors, should be relied on alone.

Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo “Jonkie” Ouano earlier called school safety a shared responsibility among parents, schools, and authorities and urged parents to monitor their children’s online activity closely.

The growing local support for transparent bags follows recent fatal school shooting incidents in Tacloban City and Zamboanga City.

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DepEd is set to hold a rescheduled nationwide school safety drill in early September, after mental health groups raised concerns that hyper-realistic active-shooter simulations could harm students psychologically. Morexette Marie B. Erram/Contributor/coa